Hy, Phy 
; | ae," 


THE 


MISSIC 


OF THE | 


UNITED STATES oe 


“AN “ORATION. - 


DEL LIVERED cts REY. J AMES LYN cH, 


AE Da ; Pie; 


PARADE GROUND, Avausta, Ga, » al an 


JULY 4, 4, 18. a 


PUBLISHED IN ‘COMPLIANCE W | WITH A bilo tior OFFERED 
BY CAPT. J. E. BRYANT, 
WHICH WAS UNANBHOVELY PASSED. 


' AUGUSTA GA. 
: ani POWER PRESS CHRONICLE & SENTINEL OFFICE, 
. 1865. 


AUGUSTA, JULY 5, 1865. 
Capt. d. E. Bryant, Assiatant Commissioner of Prov thnen: | 

Dear Srv :—In compliance with a resolution adopted at our celebra- 
tion of the 4th of July, on Ph ENE I have the an to send you here 
with « copy of s emari on th ab Occasion. I offer no apology for 
their. imperfeetio as. be catise they were not intended for publication, and 
Thi ve not time tomake the revision that would render them worthy 
of it. I trust, Captain, that you. will celebrate many anniversaries of 
American Tudependence i in Georgia. You have already ina few weeks 
contributed to the well being of the colored people to an extent that has 
enshrined you in their hearts, and str ugg eling amid difficulty they cling to 
you as the vine te sturdy oak. 

Again let me say, Lobey this. request of my fellow-citizens with re- 
luctance, for the re easons I’ have “stated. Bat I. trust the occasion may 
vever be tor votten, but is the augury of a day of redemption from igno- 


we ee thom prejudice mane from degradation. 
isda hike - i aut V Al'v -since se € over sit ne bin 45 


Missionary of Ns: ational Dinsadinon! 5 aarp Asse ye 


hes 4 THE CELEBRATION. 
The Giiral On. 


procession which according to the Curexiciz AND Szwrmgn numbered 
four thousand, headed by Lt, Col. Trowbride_ with a detac'-ment of his 


regiment; (33 d U, 8, we ) ¢ osed of ministers, various societies, per- 


com] 
sons of the different trades and field laborers, also the children, of the 
schools. A committee of tastefully dressed ladies presented to the pro- 
cession as it was about to move three beautiful banners, bearing the fol- 
lowing inscriptions. ‘Abraham Lincoln the Father of our Liber ties and 
Savior of his Count we _‘Slavery and Disnnion dead !” “Freedom and 
2quality i is our mot: Other banners were also borne along the route. 

Brig. Gen. . Wild and ‘the Assistant Commissioner of Freedmen were in 
the procession. The exercises commenced at the Parade Ground about 
12 o’clock. . Itis estimated that ten thousand. persons were assembled. 

All of the speeehes were well conceived and had happy etfeet. The 
speech of Rev. James Lynch, who was chosen to deliver the oration, 
was by a unanimous vote requested for publication. 

_ The platform was occupied by the citizens Commuiittee, officers of 
U.S. army and. Freedmen’s Bureau, _and distinguished clergym. en, togeth- 
er with those who took part in the exercises. 

No disorder or unnecessary tumult marred the oecasion—all passed 
off quietly, ee deka, J.K. BRYANT, 
sia uly plas alchemical eit Sub- Commissioner Freedmen. 


Taare 4th of. July at Augusta, Georgia, iy bie. col-. 
“ ored citizens, was an occasion of surpassing interest. They formed a 


td 


UN ITED STATES, 


GLORY: A N D MISSION, 


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE vary Nee NEN 
| EPOCH | soars 


ap 


sti 


Ww e moet this hous le eiabiated the Haidetuth! birth- 
day of the Republic of the United States of America. Our 
ae fly. pack. bo 2 theyath, of July, 1776, and linger there 

notions of 1 We see the beginning of a 
new repiet Tn he swoild’ s" “history: promising to bated 
an estate that the combined wisdom and philosophy of a 

hundred centuries had sought and not obtained. Great 
pennies are enunciated and laid down for the founda- 
tion of” gor ‘ érnment, that. give equality before the law, and 
recogmze wowfavorite. classes in the jewislation of the on 
tie councils: or Pi the Ladmiinietvation. of Government.— — 
The exalted wisdom, patriotism and philan trophy that pro- 
duced the declaration, successtully sustained it—life and 
fortune were willingly pledged and periled. The strength. 
of honest conviction gave the highest order of courage, and 
the belief that the Great Kternal was ‘on the side of right 
arene mhepe wich smiled at the idea ve defeat. 


we Pi ; 
GREAT BRYTAIN 8 STRENGTH ON COMMENCING THE WAR. 
Great Britain’ 8 military prowess had been felt sie he ac- 
knowledged in every, . arter Obs the globe, until St. 
Greorge’s cross became. the: sy mbol ‘of inaiangibilityyg Her 
well disciplined armies, to. whom had. been bequeathed the 
glory of Cressy and Agineonrt and a thousand we rell fought 


Saga 3h 


4. 


fields, were as ready to cross the Atlantic as were Cesar’s 
eins of old to cross the Rubicon. Her mighty arma- 
das that seemed to be the favorites of ‘Neptune were as 
pleased to sail on an errand of invasion and conquest, as 
they would have been to ride at anchor in a broad English 
cove, or passa royal review. Her royal coffers were full 
of goid and the national wealth afforded a revenue a ase to 
th most gigantic warfare. — 

The few unfortified cities along the extensive seaboard 
of America—an army of Spain colonists, with a 
scarcity of war munitions—a commerce that had_ no pro- 
tection, and was left no alternative but being swept from 
the seas, combined to give the Brittons the greatest confi 
dence ot success in the Ran eet 


THE COLONIES UNCONQUERABLE, 


“The sequel, however, proved that the Colonies could 
not’ be subdued—the infant nation was not to be erushad 
—the men.of Lexington and Bunker Hill were more than 
a match for the trained soldiery of England, and Warren 
and Putnam were ‘‘foemen worthy the steel’ of the most 
distinguished generals of the mother country, while the 
Great AV hala gton seemed to be under the egis of a Divine 
Being who nad willed that he should be the master spirit 
of the age—the great leader of the American people—the 

executor of a Siviin decree; than whom. to conquer, it 
were more possible to turn the sun from his. course. 


AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE NOT EASILY. WON, CAUSE OF SUCCESS. 

And yet it must not be supposed that American Inde- 
pendence was easily won. The struggle entailed the loss 
of the best sons of.the Colonies. Aceldemas reddened 
the land, and the bones of the slain bleached by the; rains 
and ithe by the winds of Heayen told of its horrors. 
Families were. poverty-sticken. and helpless. ‘The wreck 
of fortune and, the palsied effect on commerce, manufac- 


tures and industry were only borne by a fortitude commen- 
southern Pamphlets 
Rare Book Collection 
UNC-Chapel Hill 


RK 
oO 


surate with the glory of the object sought., An army 
fought without pay—suflicient food or Entice fighting 
the harder for every pang of hunger and. every chilling 
blast that blew upon an unprotected body-—a sacred, cause 
fired their hearts, every soldier was vit a hero or martyr 
—if not one of these—both. 


, RESULT OF THE STRUGGLE. 

The tide of invasion was rolled back. The sound ot the 
. British drum no longer heard; the sunshine of peace arose 
on the land, and from the smoke of battle ‘and deluge of 
blood, ities through tears—the fair young HepuBne ap- 
pattie: Bietand bowed a haughty acknowledgment, but 
all the nations ofthe earth greeted her with ba: swelling 
dehght; a chord is struck in the hearts of the oppressed— 
an ‘activity, given to the republican element of the mon- 
arehies of the old world, that made the royal palace, the 
imperial throne, and kin ey erown, and sovereign sceptre no 
enviable Holts 3: Glorious fetite Pelin obfte in the field now 
give ‘place to MERE s of statesmanship, and the constitu- 
tion renders the names of its framers immortal. And the 
administrations of Washington and Adams display the 
beautiful working’ of the new as ‘itieal so sa 


Red kee lhe NR! OW 1812. 

In 1812 the British lion roars again on the Western 
shores of the Atlantic; the terrible invasion utters its alarm 
amidst the enshrouding flames that consume the outer tem- 
ple of American Titer but the spirit of ’76 still living, 
seals its fate at Plattsburg, Fort Erie and New Orleans. 


ADVANTAGES PCSSESSED BY THE INFANT REPUBLIC. 
Never was such a scope given for political power and 
national developement as that possessed by the New Repub- 
lic—over four thousand miles of seacoast with the finest har- 
bors in the world, a vast undulating area with every varie- 
ty of hill and vale rising ina long narrow chain of cloud- 


6 


capped mountains receding into fertile valleys intersected 
by rivers running from the great lakes to the gulf; and 
these valleys relieved by yet another great. chain amid 
whose irregulat peaks lie imbedded mines of precious mi- 
nerals that ages cannot exhaust. With no rival on this 
continent,“and the receptacle of the flower of Eurcpean 
population, these adv antages have been wondefrally improv- 
ed. 
| PROGRESS. 

Wealthy and populous cities dot the seaboard; and the 
highway throu ghout the nation marks the industry of its 
inhabitants. The soil is verdant with vegetation or shin- 
ing with the yellow harvest. Cities, towns and villages ap- 
pear everand anon with agricultural. districts, Qur. ecom- 
merece whitens every sea i American canvass, the iron 
network of railway connects all parts of the country to- 
gether and the magnetic telegraph brings them W ithin con- : 
versational disvantee Bey every part of che Jand, when the 
pels ei of the Sabbath morn succeeds the hum of beast _ 

the sound of the church-going bell is heard. 
houses may be seen whenever ware’ isnecd for the cradle— 
Acadamies are e almost as numerous as county court hous es 
—colleges may be counted by scores. and societies for the 
promotion of science, literature and art rival those of Lon- 
don, Paris or Berlin. i ee why _ _— abeeseicinitts desire 
to dissolve’ ‘the’ Union? iN ill 


Sw ae Ne oe pats a a Bug : jo we ee 


Bice om ne OF THE ane Cees 


wees in the early history of nations and Asie cireun- 
stances under which they are established, like those in the 
first stages of manhood, are often prophetic indications of 
their future and final mission. The believer in “MANIFEST 
DESTINY’ is very’ far from being “utopian or fanciful.” 
Why was the virgin soil of America left for thousands of 
years untouched by the ploughshare, and her mighty for- 
ests unseathed by the woodman’s axe; if it were not that 


7 


time's rolling ages should develop aeivilization that would 
plant it with the seeds of enlightenedadeas that had not, or 
could not bloom and mature inthe realms of royalty ?, Why 
did invincibility blaze forth from rusty arms and sabres und 
depleted ranks, if it were not, that’ a Republic in the West- 
ern world was divinely appointed to an important part in 
the world’s drama? - With change of Cowper's poetic 
strain we say to-day— | “omit 


“America! owith: alltlydaults 1 love thee still.” 


“Do you ask whatis the part of the American Repub- 
lic in the world’s drama? What is her mission? Read 
the Declaration of Independence. Tleav, oh hear! “We 
hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are ereated 
free, and equal, and. endowed es certain inalienable 
rights AEng which 1s life, liberty and ale pase of hap- 
piness.”” Thatis a doctrine 


* Both pure and sound, 


“hat is a gospel. ‘Aaregios’ Ss mission is to preach, it 
on den statesmen in halls of legislation, by her ministers 
in the pulpit, by judicial decisions from the bench, by her 
orators on the platiorin, by her diplomatic agents in foreign 
climes, by her pri -actical example in legislation, by the nur- 
ture of public institutions, and to promulgate it. all. over . 
the globe by the wonderful power of her able press. 

“This great Republic was raised, up,to) elevate, humani- 
ty and to oppose the despotism: of the univ erse—to seatter 
light where tyranny casts the blackest shades and to whis- 
per the promise ofa brighter future in the earof him: who 
only hears the ela anking of his chains. Filled with the 
spirit of this mission, her future eareer—unchecked—shall 
be like a rolling ball of, fire illuminating the horizon with 
its. glory. The. genius of her laws andinstitutions shall be 
engraited on the , inhabitants, of the, sworld, while North and 
South America from where, the ocean stands i in frozen s0- 
lidity to wheveske rolls her. wave, around the South Pole 
shore, shall be under the protection of the flag of the free. 


8 


“THE CAUSE OF OUR CIVIL WAR. 6 
- Continued disobedience to the spirit of this mission is to in- 
vite and await the fate of republics that exist only on the me- 
lancholy pages of history that chronicle their decline. This Re- 
public was disobedient to the spirit of its mission, when from her 
awful throne of justice—the United States Supreme Court—it 
wos proclaimed that ‘The black. man had no rights which the 


white. man was bound to respect.” Bloody scenes in Kansas 


blackened the national character—license was given to political 
heresy—-and the spirit of oppression, the greed for power, selfish- 
nessjand disloyalty swept over the bulwarks of a patriotism which 
had said “Hitherto thou shalt go and no further,” plunged into 
the yortex the great Alexander H. Stephens and others, and laid 
siege to the national life. Neither the hallowed associations of 
the past, baptized with the blood of revolutionary sires, nor the 
utterances of the mighty dead at Mt. Vernon, Marshfield or Mon- 
ticello, lulled the storm; the beguiling eloquence of Seward and 
and the terrific thunder of Andy Johnson were alike unheard 

Amid its still more powerful mutterings, the Peace, Congress” 

and the resolutions of the “Committee of thirty-three” were but 
. chips on the foaming crest of angrily plunging billows. Mad- 
ness ruled the. hour. The South buckled on the sword, hauled 
down the starry standard of the Union, gave to the breeze the 


emblem of revolted States, threw down the gauntlet in Charles- 


ton harbor and challeng ed the nation for battle on the memora- 
ble plains of Manassas. “The nation accepted the challenge but 
but after vainly struggling to drive back the foe, her banner 
trailed in the dust, and her army, disordered, defeated, wounded, 
bleeding and humiliated, made precipitate flight to her Capital. 
But even this did not make the nation realize her missior, 
and for nearly two years she sent her tens of thousands to South- 


ern battle fields until the terrible carnage apparently fruitless in — 


its results, spread apathy throughout the North, and many des- 
paired of the union of all the States. 


WHAT GAVE UNION VICTORY, 
But hel the nation issued by the mouth of Abraham Lin- 
coln, an edict of freedom to the slaves and commenced legislating 
in behalf of an oppressed race, when she realized that Divine 


Providence had united the destiny of both races and God had 


9 


made the deliverance of the slave from bondage the sine 
qna non of the deliverance of the nation from the consuming 
fires of rebellion; then was. foreign sympathy with treason 
rebuked and the chances of foreign aid for rebellion curtailed ; 
then did Grant loom up in glory, and. with your Shermans direct 
armies clothed with invincibility. And to-day from. ocean to 
ocean, from the lakes to the gulf the old flag proudly flaunts in 
the summers breeze, the emblem of Freedom, Justice and Hope. 


WHAT THE NATION HAS DONE IN. FOUR) YEARS FOR THE COLORED MAN. 
What has the nation done for the colored man during the 
past four years?) It has abolished slavery in the District of 
Columbia, acknowledged the governments of Hayti and Liberia 
and entertained a colored ambassador ; it has admitted into 
the army and navy over two hundred and fifty thousand colored 
men as soldiers and sailors; it has commissioned colored men as 
field, line and staff officers; it has admitted to the bar of the Su. 
preme Court a colored lawyer’ it has. repealed proscriptive laws 
that did not allow colored men to carry the mails or testify in U. 
S. courts of justice; it has by constitutional amendment abolish- 
ed slavery in all of its vast domain; it has acknowledged the cit- 
izenship of the colored man, and wherever the United States has 
exclusive jurisdisdiction the colored man has equal r ri ights with the 
white. It has instituted a guardianship over his interests in the 
transition state, by the establishment of the Freedmen’ s Bureau 
with that ereat oreneral and good man, 0. O. Howard, at its head’ 3 
who is laboring with all the zeal that char acterized him when lead. 
ing the centre column of Gen. Sherman’ 8 army, ‘The importance 
of this bureau may be estimated by the service which Capt. J. i 
Bryant, Assistant ( Commissioner, renders i in this city and vicinity 
to the freed people. Seventy-fiy e thousand colored childr en in the 
Southern States are being educated i in schools sustained by Nor th 
ern charity and taught by highly qualified teachers, The bravery, 
fidelity and capacity of the colored race has received national 
commendation and is supported by the highest official testimony. 
The freedom of the colored race is as unalterable as were the laws 
of the Medes and. Persians. _ The iron pen of Divine Providence 
has. written out the title in letters of Ametiea? s best blood. Earth 
and Hell may conspire, bat will be ag Xerxes lashing the waves © 
of the Hellespont with chains to make them placid. 


10 


NEGRO SLAVERY WITHOUT WARRANT. ‘ 

The colored man’s original right to freedom is found in the 
first chapter of the book of. Ged cain: We find there that God 
has made an inventory of whatever should be property, but the 
colored man does not happen to be an item in the inventory 
Now a lawyer would allow inference that he could not according 
to Divine law be considered properiy, and must be one of those 
to have “dominion over the fowl,” &c.. 


_ANDREW JOHNSON AND NEGRO. SUFFRAGE. 

The Uhief Executive feels that he has no power to influence 
the States of the South to give colored. citizens political rights or 
privileges in common with the other citizens of these States. | 
have no doubt that this decision meets with hearty APE royal in 
many quarters, yet there are differences of opiion r¢ specting 
the power of the President in. this matter .wh: ich may find ex 
pression in the subsequent elections aut, the Nor th and “even at 
the next. Congress. Sufficient argument can be produced. to show 
that it is quite as constitntionai to. dy, seine things: as ib A to. do 
some ebhetsuu: jg@e iy) ; gil peat: ice 

me believe resident, pve al eases God bless hima! desires 
the happiness « of my race, ‘The sublime period of his life, when, 
from the steps, of the ‘Tennessean Capitol he pr oclaimed liberty { for 
the black man in his own native State, and promised | before God 
to be his . Moses,” ig still, fresh j im our memories, causing. us. to 
linger. about. the Wy hite ‘House j in fond affection and brightest 
hope. | ! ’ Sift om 
' At ig ur eed fata the eg te man is : too ignorant. to vote, It 
was urged that he was too ignor ant to fi ght, but the highest mili- 
tary authority, (Ww est Point inclusive ,) tells us _ that he fights as 
well as the white man. Ignorance i ig to be deplor ed always, but 
it is not. fra ght with the greatest danger, to ‘this, republic, for 
that is foun in wickedness itt disloyalty. A sham Presidential 
election was held in Beanfort on the 8th of November last, the 
plantation people throughout the region came in and voted, ‘they 
thought the election was real, but not one of them voted for Me- 
Clellan. The colored man’s. ate will always be on the side of 
Union; and on other questions phir be controlled by the politi- 
cal hen dans: and party managers. What then ean ‘there be i in his 

‘enfranchisement to alarm the patriotic citizen ?” 7 


oe | 


W 
NEGRO HATE AND PREJUDICE, 

The Democratic party has always. had the ignorant in if.— 
That party seems to like ignorant voters, and yet they start 
when the proposition is made to exfr anchise colored men, Now 
this is not honest. It is not because they are solicitous for the 
welfare of the country, it is not because they fear ‘the effect of 
ignorance; it Is prejudice—that hatred of the colored. man-—that 
oniseattont to his progress—a fear of his dev clopment—all oF 
which is without reason or apology. Why hate the colored race? 
They have tilled your lands and made them bring forth the great 
staples that have enriched you, affording Juxurious eet 


they have nursed your children in infancy cand, toiled for ea 
while at the school and college ; ; they have’ ever ‘rejoiced when 
you rejoiced, sorrowed when you sorrowed; | -ineckly ¢ and submis- 
sively have they borne your restrictions, punishments and cruel- 
ties; they have followed the armies of Beaureg ard, Wade Hamp- 
ton apt Lee and others, and borne your sons from the gory field 
“ a place of safety and staunched their bleeding wounds. 
“Hyen now nider the changed state of affairs they harbor no 
feclings of malice for their former masters. Why hate the color- 
ed man ? God made hin—Jesus died for him—Heaven is prepar- 
ed for him; for him the sun shines, the rains descend, the fiel hs 
produce v ouotatton: and Jehovah rules the universe as well as 
fur you. Why hate him because his skin is of a darker hue ? 
Why hate him because he is not, educated? The laws of your 
State have made it felony for teacher to teach and. scholor to 
learn. Haye not the laws of the Southern States shut out the 
light from him and chained his mind by grievious oppression ? 
Oh white man—favored of the earth, you cannot, you will not, 
you are too great not to be ood. Slavery i is the cause of “preju- 
dice, its virus has poisoned the feclings you have toward the col 
ored race. Where slavery has not existed and its influence has 


exist. rt) he ¢ 


not been provatling, this prejudice does not. 
cherish it, must be taught i , 


Tell x me not tthat papiamae is S eatubetl 


wit willbe. willingly folded in the arms of aman of ebeng es 
he be his body: servant, and ‘yet shrink from him as though his 


12 


body exhaled contagion if he be an educated man—a highly 
respectable man and a boarder at a hotel or passenger in a rail- 
road car er stage coach. When I can believe that nature ha 
journeymen that makes men, then can I believe prejudice is natu- 
ral and not before. Why does not the color of the Japanese, of 
the Chinaman or of the Indian excite asimilar prejucice; or if 
their color be not so dark as the average of the colored race of 
the United States why is their nota proportionate prejudice : 
There is no such prejudice in the Old World as in this country. 
Alexander Dumas the great dramatist and novelist, a colored 
man, is the guest of the princes of Europe. His father, a color- 
ed man, was arenowned general in Napoleon’s time: his son 
lately married the widow Princess Narishkin. Count Pushkin the 
great Russian poet was a colored man, so was Baron Feutchter- 
sleben under Secretary of public instruction in Austria The first 
Duke of Tuscany, Alexsandro Medici, who reigned from 1580 to 
1537, was a mulatto, the Emperor Charles V, gave his daughter 
to the colored Duke, his portrait with wooly hair and thick lips is_ 
still seen in the public gallery of Florence | among the Dukes of. 
Tuseany. | The black Soloque ex-Emperor of Hiya is a , welcome 
guest at the greatest fetes of the ueunialaiass OF a8) visitor of the 
highest nobility in France. | “4 . . 

_ Prejudice against the pales race is On, saunas of. sami con- 
dition which is a consequence of slavery. Slavery to protect it- 
self, has taught that. the colored man belon gs to an inferior order 
of creation. Slavery is nomore.. The colored man enters into a 
“new life and beholds a brighter destiny. _ 


WHAT THE COLORED MAN ASKS. 


He ie to stay in the land of his birth, to. till the soil and 
labor. in the workshop, and to fill positions of usefulness under 
ese | skies that s smiled on his infancy. He. asks and de- 
mands protection in the enjoyment ‘of his liberty, which is only 
secured by equality before the law, Social equality possesses 
not his most airy dreams. While he toils for the © white man; 
while he contributes his share to the development, of the resources 
of this’ great State’, he asks the white man who is blessed with 
oe eo aii and sap 2 od beh him year ng 


iby 


hing 


att 


18 


THE NATIVE INTELLECT OF THE COLORED RACE. 


The colored race is susceptible of the highest stage of devel- 
opment. Although we have been. hindered by proscription and 
have had “wind and tide” against us, yet we have worthy repre- 
sentatives in the pulpit, at the bar, in the medical profession and 
in the professor’s chair. In art they have given evidences of 
genius; Bannister and Chaplain and Bowers make life and na- 
ture glow upor the canvass, and the records of the Patent Office 
in Washington prove their skill in mechanism. The fervid elo- 
quence and Baconian logic of Vouglas and Langston, of Garnet 
and Remond has oft thrilled the nation and borne down like a 
mighty torrent upon oppression, silencing the silly pratings 
about natural inferiority. And asto how well they have fought 
in the great war just ended, [pointing to Gen. Wild, who led a 
division of colored troops] let that one armed hero and soldier 
upon whose brow the laurels of martial victory are yet fresh, tell 
—lam unequal to the task. Of their capacity to take care of them 

Selves—to be satisfied—is only to look at the assessors books in 
the “North and. to visit those regions in the. South where: uy 
have been blessed with freedom for a year or more. 

They tell us we are, the: descendants of Pens ihe rida eabty 
son of Noah. ‘Then our race first gave science, art and learning. 
tothe world. Egyptian civilization has been transmitted to every 
succeeding nation on the face of the globe. The sons of Ham 
founded Egypt. Do you doubt it ? Then you doubt the word of 
God. Inthe 105th psalm, at the 28d verse, we read as follows : 
“Israel also came into the land of Egypt. and Jacob sojourned 
in the Jand of Ham.” ¥ | . 

THE SOUTHERN GRATES! 74, RY GeO es 

‘There is ets. patriotism and religion in the South, anda as 
the rising sun of peace and prosperity drives away the darkness 
of the past, it will be seen standing out upon the foreground 
amid the wreck of civil war, fresher and brighter than ever be- 
fore. The people of the North are resposible, to some extent, for 
this fratricidal war which has cost so much blood. and treasure. 
They have enriched themselves off the profits of slave | labor, and 
encouraged the system among you, and when the slave system 
threatened the creation of a power destructive to their vital in- 


14 


terests, they set their faces against it.. No, wonder the South 
looked upon them as “Satan correcting sin.” _ 

Slavery has been the basis of Southern wealth—it has gone 
down in the str uggle, the Southern people will accept the Pecate 
and will construct upon the basis of free labor, rearing a super- 
structure berate which the past pales in insignificance. 


THE SOUTH NOT DEGRADED BY THE RESULT OF THE CIVIL WAR. 


The Sozth need not be stung by defeat. Her contest with 
the North has exhibited tnsurpassed military skill and heroism, 
rivaling Marathon, Thermopyle, Austerlitz and Lexington. She 
need not feel humiliated because her ideashave been changed 
and policy altered, for the North has had to change hers on the 
slavery question. If the North has conquered the South, it is 
because God conquered the North. If the South bows to the 
North, it is because the North bowed to God. 

Now that the thunderings of artillery are no longer heard, 
the flash of musketry no more seen, the groans of the dying lost 
in the stillness of death, the shedding of blood ceased: and the 
constitutional amendment stands like a rainbow. in. the national — 
shy) let en and South,” white and black shake hands—join 
ird up their loins and with a patriotism 
x auaftdd as the tidal grandeur, a love of justice and merey 
like that which is Divine, and ahope as high as the objects of 
yromise, go on in the pursuit of further development. 


Happiness depends as nature shows, 

Less on exterior things than most suppose: 
Vigilant over all that hehias made, He 
Kind Providence attends with gracious ‘aid, 
Bids equity throughout his works prevail, 
And weighs the nations i in an even 1 scale.) 


THE oe RACE DEMANDS JUSTICE OF THR WHITE MAN. 

All that my race asks of the white man is justice. Give him 
that, and exact what you please, it will be freely accorded. The 
white man may refuse usjustice. God forbid! But. it cannot be 
withheld long ; for there will be an army marshalled in the Heav- 
ens for our protection, and events will transpire: by which the 
hand of Divine Providence will wring from you in wrath, that 
which shonld pane: been given in love. 


4S 


“The Sunof Justice may withdraw his beams 
Awhile from eartly kin, and sit concealed 
in dark recess, pavilioned round with clouds: 
Yet let not. guilt presumptuous rear her crest. 
Nor virtue droop despondent: svon these clouds, 
Seeming eclipse, willbrighten into day, 
And in Majestic splendor He will rise, 
With héaling and with terror on His wings.” 


I stand here to-day beseeching the white man to remember 
that his God is the black man’s God also. How wonderful is the 
power of God. His presence is shown everywhere in the works of 
His creation. Go to the North Pole where the seas freeze—roam 
over earth’s varied surface; now gazing upon the boundless for- 
est arrayed in living green and waving majestic branches as if 
im huinble adoration of their Maker; and then the towering moun- 
tain chain gilt with the mellow sunlight, .or bathed in the sullen 
cloud; the unmeasured plain, or the wide sloping vale ; the mur- 
muring rivulet monotonously basing the vocal music of the sing- 
ing birds, or the long rapid river hurrying to the mighty deep ; 
ridempon the ereat waters where swelling billows heave their 

“bosoms to the clouds and toss upon 4 foaming crest huge 
*vessels ag feathers upon the whirlwind. Look at the storm with 
its rolling thunders, its forked lightnings and heaven-gushing 
torrents; the hurricane that with destructive blasts uproots the 
oak of centuries and laughs at the strength of art. Turn up 

thine eye and see the heavens spread out likea curtain beneath 
His feet, lit up by the dazzling orb by day, or by night by the 
sparkling stars that shine in silver clusters. Look beyond to his 
abiding place, and with the telescope of the Revelator see 
his throne in the highest of Heavens, from which issues a 
dazzling light of - elory, too great for mortal vision, but envelop- 
ing uillions of spiritual inhabitants who in an unceasing ecstacy 
of joy sing and shout the praises of the Eternal. He spake, and 
all this came forth with the readiness of the edict which anthor- 
ized its.nlle made man o “little lower than the angels,” ” and “ AG ave 
him dominion over the fowl and the brute.” ae 
He covered his creation with the waters. of the ode 
washed from the vast earth allthat dwelt thereon, and rode upon — 
those heaven-towering waters of destruction, an ark with his 


chosen, who for forty days and forty nights looked out upon My 


oceanic solitude, and the howling storm and fiery lightuing as 


16°: 
they enjoy a the eaekiar of a babe, siiing onits moter 8 bleoin 
N ations rise up nourishing arts and sciences until the winds — 
of men drift through God’s universe and measures a bur ning 
world, or go down into the bowels of the earth and anylize its 
elements and treasures, extending their: conquest to. distant seas, 
boasting: of mighty cities and temples of art, marshaling armies 
whose tread - shake the earth, but loving not justice. Their mon: 
~arehs drop. their sceptres—their cities become smouldering ruins; 
and graveyard silence reigns where hummed the noise of moving 


* 


millions. 
“All hath impress of a Maker's frown.” 3 


THE LOYAL PEOPLE OF THE REPUCLIC: WILL VOW TO-DAY. 


Auspicious are the enthusiastic ‘and unequaled celebrations 
of this day all over our broad land. The national escutcheon noi: 
longer stained by slavery, patriotism strikes a higher note and 
joy takes a mightier swell. The: structure of this Democratic 
Republic haying stood the shock of civil war, Hope si saz 
on the. frontlets, of the note, : FAB 


W ial. and 


